


Destiny Unfurls

by Legacy_Scarlettpeony (Scarlettpeony)



Series: The 'To You, An Admirer' Series [11]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, No Relationship, No Romance, hints of underage, no kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-27
Updated: 2010-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:54:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28216527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scarlettpeony/pseuds/Legacy_Scarlettpeony
Summary: Mordred makes a decision about Linnet.
Relationships: Mordred (Merlin)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: The 'To You, An Admirer' Series [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2064168
Kudos: 1





	Destiny Unfurls

**Author's Note:**

> Set in the same verse as In Her Father’s Image. This is based on a prompt by wikked_angel_78 (on LJ) who wanted a drabble based around the prophecy that Mordred will fall in love with Linnet.

Mordred had gone back and forth between the secret camp where he resided with Morgana and her son Mabon and Camelot all his life. Often he would go without telling anyone where it was he was headed because he knew they would never understand his reasons for going in the first place. It was his secret obsession.  
  
That was his curiosity over Eiliwedd, the Lady Royal of Camelot and daughter of the man he was apparently destined to kill one day. Little Linnet, the ‘Idol of the Isles’ as the people knew her as a child. He had watched her since she was a babe lying in her cradle, and secretly watched her grow up from afar.  
  
One day when she was thirteen, Linnet dropped her family pendant – the mark of the Pendragon – while walking in the street. That was the first day that Mordred had ever spoken to Linnet. He knew he shouldn’t have but curiosity over what it would be like to... _touch_ her shoulder just once compelled him to reach out and grab her attention to return the lost treasure.  
  
He remembered how she had turned and smiled. Everyone said that she was edgy and tricky to deal with like her father had been at her age... but he saw nothing but nobility and kindness in her expression.  
  
 _“You dropped this, your highness.”_  
  
He had held out the pendant for her and she gasped at the sight of it, immediately reaching out to take it.  
  
 _“Oh my God! Thank you.”_  
  
Her hand had brushed against his as she took back the pendant. She had barely stayed more than a few seconds after that, smiling gratefully at him and blinking her beautifully framed brown-eyes as she turned to leave. He had even caught the scent of her fine blonde hair flicked back as she ran to catch up with her younger companion.  
  
He knew that his curiosity was poisonous.  
  
That said his interest in Linnet hadn’t been perverted, at least he didn’t think so. At thirteen he did not find her remotely attractive as a woman. She was still thin and undeveloped but for tiny signs that puberty had kicked in just the previous year. Her tomboyish style added more to her lack of femininity even when she was forced to wear a dress.  
  
Her longish blonde locks hung in fine, wavy masses which knotted together. As he walked away Mordred imagined Queen Guinevere pulling a brush through her teenage daughter’s hair and scolding her for not brushing it properly.  
  
Yes, he had thought her beautiful – in the same way a work of art was beautiful or a unicorn was beautiful. Eiliwedd Pendragon was at that point just a pretty thing but she was not _attractive_. Even pretty things could be struck down if need be... although Mordred admitted that his perception of her might change when she came of age, when she reached the age of _objectification_.  
  
So he made a vow.  
  
He would not return to Camelot until the day she came of age. Even as he walked away Mordred wondered how he would fight off the curiosity to watch her as he had since she was tiny. Yet he had crossed the line in speaking to her today. He had made a move towards existing in her world, something which he had vowed never to do the first day he ever saw her as a baby.  
  
 _I will never let the daughter of a man I hate control me!_  
  
Mordred realised now that he was so determined to see the prophecy didn’t come true, that by obsessing over Linnet and watching her he was making it come true. So, he decided to cut all ties from this day until the day she was no longer a child.  
  
It was not a child, after all, who would ‘bewitch the mind of the cold and cruel Mordred’ to the point of obsession, he thought.

* * *

Mordred knew he was doomed the moment he saw her.  
  
Sneaking into Camelot had always been a gift of his and it was made easier this time that Morgana wanted him to spy on the celebrations of the princess’s sixteenth year and her coming out celebrations. That was, her ‘coming of marital age’ party.  
  
Every damned prince, baron and lord in the land would fall over themselves to try and win the attentions of the famed Linnet. They were hungry for the power that marriage with her would give to them. They’d have all fought over her if she had been ugly. The fact that she was beautiful and supposedly a lively personality made her all the more desirable.  
  
Morgana had joked cynically that Linnet had inherited her mother’s _‘je ne sais quoi’_ when it came to her ability to attract men, inflame their desire and drive them to a madness where they would do _anything_ to win ten seconds of her approval.  
  
It was an approval that Linnet was not forthcoming with. She was known to tease and joke with the boys that fumbled over her, giving her flowers and kissing her hand. She would never be cruel but she’d tell them they were being silly. She didn’t take matters of the heart seriously yet, as if she was waiting for that one special person to spark her off and make her care.  
  
Mordred clasped his drink and looked around. No one recognised him.  
  
The entire room went silent as the court announcer called the princess forth so that she might present herself to the king and queen, her parents, and so that they might in turn present her to the minor kings and nobility of the whole of Albion.  
  
All eyes turned to the door as it opened.  
  
 _’Her Royal Highness Eiliwedd, daughter of Arthur; the Lady Royal of Camelot and High-Princess of the Isles of Albion.’_  
  
Linnet appeared behind the announcer, clearly amused by the mouthful he had just said. She saw no reason why everyone needed to be reminded of who she was. But it was tradition and there was nothing Camelot liked better than good old tradition.  
  
The High-King Arthur and his wife Queen Guinevere both stood from their throws and beckoned their daughter forward.  
  
Linnet smiled mildly and walked into the hall as elegantly as she could manage. She had never been comfortable in prissy and fancy expensive dresses but due to the grandeur of the occasion, Linnet had been forced to endure standing still for at least an hour each day for ten weeks while the royal dressers fitted the dress and stitched on the ornate decoration.  
  
The result was breathtaking. Everyone including Mordred stared in disbelief at the beauty of the girl before them.  
  
Yet it wasn’t just her beauty that moved Mordred. There was something more innate and primal now.  
  
He found himself wanting to walk through the crowds, reach out and touch one of the carefully twirled tendrils twisted either side of her head. He wanted to look her in the eyes and read her soul. He wanted to think her thoughts. He wanted to hear what was going through her mind. He wanted to be as close to her as possible. The magic within him demanded it so.  
  
He could _feel_ every movement she made.  
  
Mordred wondered, _Is this destiny taking hold?_  
  
Linnet curtsied to both her parents and spoke the words she had been practising for weeks. Just for that one moment so much work had gone into preparing for it. When she had finished the king stepped forward, took her hand and she turned to face the rest of the hall, curtsying to them gracefully.  
  
She wouldn’t have noticed Mordred in the sea of faces. There was no reason why she would. Yet Mordred found himself hoping she would look in his direction. She didn’t.  
  
 _I will make her notice me_ , he vowed to himself.  
  
He would not _avoid_ the prophecy any longer. He would _use_ it and bend it to his own will. They said that Linnet would tame Mordred, when Mordred would tame Eiliwedd. He would make her want him as much as he wanted her and more if possible.  
  
Mordred would make Linnet his. He would steal her and make her his by any means or force needed. Her parents the ‘great’ Arthur and Guinevere won’t be able to stop him. If they tried, he would kill them.  
  
Whoever takes Linnet, takes the whole of Albion.  
  
Mordred was determined that would be him.


End file.
